This invention relates to fare boxes of the type employed on public conveyances, such as transit buses or the like, and more particularly to an improved fare box which is designed to accept paper currency, such as for example a dollar bill.
In more recent years the cost of transportation has sky-rocketed, thus leading to increased fares for subways, buses, and the like, even to the point where it has been necessary to design fare boxes capable of handling or accepting both coins and paper currency, typically in the form of dollar bills. Unfortunately, however, known fare boxes of the type capable of receiving and manipulating dollar bills have the disadvantage that they easily become jammed and therefore frequently are in need of repair.
For example, in a known fare box of the type noted above, the device for accepting paper currency utilizes a bill feed mechanism which requires rather careful placement of a dollar bill or the like into a chute which communicates with the nip formed between the glass or transparent front wall of the box, and the surface of an endless belt which travels downwardly and in slidable engagement with the rear surface of the transparent box wall. As the leading edge of the dollar bill enters the nip, the belt frictionally engages the bill and draws it downwardly into the fare box, causing it to slide against the rear face of the transparent wall of the box. A major disadvantage of this type of fare box is that a great variety of foreign objects, unfortunately, are frequently inserted into the bill receiving chute, and as a consequence the mechanism all too frequently becomes jammed and requires the associated transit vehicle be removed from operation to allow repair of the jammed mechanism.
It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide an improved fare box of the type described which utilizes a novel mechanism for accepting paper currency, and which minimizes if not substantially eliminates the undesirable jamming and breakdown of the bill delivering mechanism as heretofore experienced in connection with known such fare boxes.